In response to the article on Mondays BOE meeting in the Susquehanna Independent Weekender and the Scranton Times-Tribune, members of MVEA would like to issue the following letter: Mountain View School Board member Michael Barhite has no reason to feel sorry or shameful (“Mountain View Teachers Protest Pay Proposal”, 10/29/14). The faculty in the Mountain View School District is deeply appreciative of Mr. Barhite’s honesty and dedication to the school district. Mr. Barhite, like many members of the district and community are admittedly confused by a deceptive salary schedule proposed in negotiations by school board president Thomas Stoddard. There is a simple reason for this; the salary schedule proposed by Mr. Stoddard is based on flawed logic and dishonest bargaining. During Monday night’s board meeting, Mr. Stoddard admitted that the four percent raise he claims he offered to the teachers is really “slightly less” than four percent, he claimed that teachers don’t operate in the “real world,” and when being questioned by a senior at the school he admitted that it doesn’t matter to him if teachers leave Mountain View in response to his salary proposal. The salary schedule proposed by Mr. Stoddard simply doesn’t make sense. It allows Mr. Stoddard to unilaterally “map” teachers back to any point on the salary schedule he chooses. As a result, a teacher with eight years of experience can be paid the same as a teacher with two years of experience. When questioned in the public session, Mr. Stoddard couldn’t explain or justify the salary schedule. He simply stated that he wanted something that was “fair.” After careful examination, the salary schedule simply can’t be sustained over the course of more than two or three years. Mr. Stoddard, who created the schedule on his own, continued to lie to the taxpayers in attendance of the meeting when he repeatedly stated the entire board was involved in the creation of the schedule, even though none of the other eight board members agreed with this statement. This is simply unacceptable behavior by an elected official. Mr. Stoddard has been unwilling to fairly negotiate with the teacher’s union for the past two and a half years. Additionally, he has been dishonest with the taxpayers, faculty, staff, students, and even the other members of the board. The only person in this equation who should feel sorry or shameful is Mr. Stoddard. The Mountain View community deserves an apology from him, not from Mr. Barhite or any of the other board members. The Mountain View Education Association is looking forward to working with the Board of Education to resolve the remaining issues and come up with a contract that is fair to both the faculty and the district.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 22:37:57 +0000
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